Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Charles Addams, The New Yorker

Leggeypics has added a photo to the pool:

This view looks southward towards the populated area of Woorim, which lies some 30km's away. The only access to this pristine section is by four wheel drive vehicle via the beach, or by boat.

Bribie Island North—the narrow, tapering spit that sits directly opposite Caloundra and Golden Beach—is a dynamic, highly protected, and rapidly evolving landscape. Unlike the urbanized southern end of the island, the northern section is completely unpopulated, heavily managed as part of the Bribie Island National Park and Recreation Area, and falls under the Sunshine Coast Region local government area.

The Historic Tidal Breakthroughs

The most significant defining feature of the northern end is its literal transformation by nature.
• The 2022 Cut: In January 2022, severe wave action from ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth breached the narrow sand spit opposite Golden Beach. This carved out a massive new tidal channel connecting the open Pacific Ocean directly to the Pumicestone Passage.
• The 2025 Widening: Subsequent severe weather from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in 2025 further eroded the sandbar, widening the gap and creating secondary breakthrough points.
• The Environmental Shift: This physical shifting caused the original, historic Caloundra Bar to close up with sand, drastically altering local water circulation, navigation, and tidal ranges.

Major Engineering & Restoration Efforts

Because the northern tip serves as a natural barrier protecting the Caloundra and Golden Beach communities from open ocean swells, its erosion triggered massive state-funded intervention:
• Emergency Sand Pumping: Comprehensive engineering works successfully dredged over 1.1 million cubic metres of sand to close the secondary gaps and establish a massive five-metre-high sand erosion buffer.
• Channel Restoration: Dredging in the Pumicestone Passage restored a safe internal channel to Bulcock Beach, allowing the Caloundra Coast Guard to safely return to their permanent headquarters.
• Vegetation Trials: Specialized sand fencing and biodegradable "Mangrove Mate" devices have been deployed to trap seeds and regenerate native root systems to anchor the fragile dunes.

Environment & Historic Attractions

The northern reach is defined by isolated, pristine wilderness accessible only by boat from the passage or high-clearance 4WD vehicles along the beach:
• Pristine Ecosystems: The area features rich wallum heathlands, paperbark wetlands, coastal she-oaks, and extensive tidal mudflats. It is globally recognized as a critical sanctuary for migratory shorebirds and dugongs.
• Fort Bribie WWII Ruins: Deep in the northern section lie the heritage-listed concrete structures of Fort Bribie. Built between 1939 and 1943, these gun placements and surveillance bunkers served as a major defense post guarding the shipping channels into Brisbane during World War II.

Access & Regulation

Due to its unstable nature, the northern tip is heavily regulated. The topmost sandspit is a designated Special Management Area with strict pedestrian and vehicular restrictions to allow the ecosystem to recover. Remote coastal camping is permitted further down at Ocean Beach, which requires a high-clearance 4WD, a valid Vehicle Access Permit (VAP), and strict adherence to low-tide transit windows.

Bribie Island, Queensland, Australia.
26th of October 2026

Filtering features by their correlation with the target only keeps straight-line, one-at-a-time signal. That means it drops nonlinear effects, interactions and suppressor variables. In a Python demo, a correlation filter cut model R² from 0.85 to 0.01. A better approach is to use correlation only to remove redundant features, then judge relevance with mutual information, permutation importance or SHAP on held-out data, and check that the selection is stable.

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The Mercedes star needs just two more points to clinch the title after his ninth win of the season.

• Alexia Putellas picks up women’s award for third time

• England captain acclaimed in London ceremony

Harry Kane is the Ballon d’Or winner for 2026, the first Englishman to win football’s most prestigious individual trophy in 25 years.

Two hours into a lavishly excitable ceremony at the Palladium Theatre in London, Kane’s name emerged from the final envelope to wild cheers inside the auditorium. The women’s Ballon d’Or, awarded moments earlier, was won by Alexia Putellas of London City Lionesses, a third Ballon, five years on from her first in the colours of Barcelona.

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Far-right senator banned from leaving country as supreme court judge’s ruling makes reference to money-laundering case

The far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro was banned from leaving Brazil and ordered to surrender his passports just hours after his dramatic loss in the presidential election to the leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The ruling was issued by supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same justice who oversaw the trial of the senator’s father, the former president Jair Bolsonaro, for attempting a coup.

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Apple has unveiled a redesigned iPad Mini with a larger 8.5-inch OLED display, an A20 Pro chip, twice the peak brightness and slimmer bezels while maintaining roughly the same footprint. It starts at $699 ($200 more than its predecessor) and will be available November 6. The Verge reports: Despite having a slightly bigger display than the 8.3-inch screen on its predecessor, Apple says the device maintains the same small footprint thanks to bezels that are 24 percent slimmer. The iPad Mini is 5.4mm thick as well, making it thinner and lighter than the previous generation, according to Apple. It also comes with an IP67 rating for protection against water and dust.

Aside from an OLED display, the new iPad Mini features an upgraded A20 Pro chip. This enables support for some of Apple's new Siri AI features, including the ability to tweak the expressiveness and pace of the assistant's voice. Apple says the upgraded iPad Mini also comes with two times the peak brightness than the previous generation. iPad Mini's 12MP front-facing camera is now on the long edge of the device, making it easier for video calls in landscape orientation.

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Highway thieves have stolen more than $100 million in data center equipment since June, employing increasingly sophisticated tactics such as forging driver IDs and spoofing GPS tracking systems. NBC News (paywalled) reports that thieves have "made away with more than $100 million in data center freight." Ars Technica reports: Here's how they said thieves get away with it: First, thieves hack freight brokers' accounts on shipment-listing websites and post fake shipments to lure real bids, then send a malicious link to any trucking companies that respond. Once victims click, thieves install software to take control of their accounts and start bidding on real shipments. Sometimes, a real delivery driver is hired to collect the cargo, unaware of the scam, and other times fake driver's licenses are used to get accomplices hired. Either way, the goods are eventually transferred to a driver working with the thieves to resell the gear, and, in one of the largest thefts, tracking coordinates were spoofed to prevent digital monitoring. Equipment commonly targeted includes "servers, fiber-optic cables, computer memory chips, copper wires, and bitcoin mining machines," NBC News reported.

Some trailers hit seem to be carrying only data center equipment, like two stolen freights found in Illinois. The Cook County Sheriff's Office estimated those contained $300,000 worth of copper wire spools and about $1 million in "custom-made data center modular power solutions equipment," NBC News reported. Other trucks impacted were carrying additional freight, like a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department case where "data center cooling equipment" bound for Deepcool AI was recovered among nicotine pouches, televisions, shoes, printers, speakers, and skin care cosmetics. Experts worry that means Americans may be broadly harmed by the thefts, not just the AI industry.

While some stolen goods have been recovered, in two of the largest thefts that NBC News found, none of the equipment was found, and off-duty cops hired to escort the shipments were targeted in hit-and-runs. [...] Broadly, cargo thieves are infiltrating email accounts to find lucrative shipments, misdirecting shipments, disrupting GPS tracking, and using AI to create fake driver's licenses to get accomplices hired as delivery drivers. LASD's Sgt. David Pantoja told NBC News "that's how most of it is being done," which is a big shift from the past when highway thefts were largely opportunistic.

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Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from CBS News: Walter Koenig, the actor who played Pavel Chekov in the original "Star Trek" series and several movies, has died, his rep confirmed to CBS News. He was 90. Koenig died Sunday night at his home in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, talent rep Zachery McGinnis said in a statement. He died surrounded by his daughter and niece, McGinnis said.

In 'Star Trek,' Ensign Chekov was the sole member of the spaceship Enterprise bridge staff from what was the Communist bloc. His friendly, supportive presence showed how the rival nations (in the far-off future in which the show was set) were capable of working together. Speaking heavily Russian-accented English, Chekov embodied stereotypical Russian personality traits, including fierce pride, love of poetry and blind loyalty. "Through countless convention appearances and interactions with fans, he shared his kindness, wit, and appreciation with everyone fortunate enough to meet him. He understood what Star Trek meant to people and embraced the community that grew around it," McGinnis said. "Thank you, Walter, for the memories, the inspiration, and for boldly going where few have gone before."

Watch some of the Chekov's best moments on YouTube.

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Instagram is testing a new longform, horizontal video format called "Features" as it pushes further into YouTube territory and expands its presence on TVs. The Verge reports: Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has been against doing longform video on the platform "for a long time," he says in a six-and-a-half-minute video (here's the widescreen version) with VP of product Tessa Lyons, saying that "one of my concerns has been, how do we make sure that we keep Instagram not just about entertainment, but about connecting with friends." If you watch a longform video, "it's a lot of Reels, photos, and carousels that you might not have sent to a friend," meaning less likes and shares. Now, though, the team is working on making shortform and longform video "symbiotic," according to Mosseri, like podcasts or comedy specials that can be both long videos and broken up into shorter ones.

The announcement of this widescreen video push also follows the launch of Instagram's TV app late last year. That app launched first as a Reels-focused experience and as a pilot for Amazon Fire TV devices in the US, but it's since expanded to Google TVs, Samsung TVs and Apple TV, and Instagram launched new features like the ability to watch Stories earlier this year.

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Mozilla launched a new ad campaign for Firefox that leverages early internet nostalgia in a bid to win back users who switched browsers. "Today's internet tracks you, interrupts you, and asks for permissions it already took. But it wasn't always that way, and it's not how it's supposed to work," writes Mozilla CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo in a post on LinkedIn. "It's how a few companies decided it should work, because it pays."

"We're making a different bet at Firefox. Remember us? Well, we're still here, and we don't think the internet should be like this..." The ad features viral internet stars from yesteryear, including Tay Zonday of "Chocolate Rain" fame, Gary Brolsma of "Numa Numa", Noah Ritter, better known as the "Apparently Kid", and Laina Morris, the face of the "Overly Attached Girlfriend" meme, among others.

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Skydance, as it begins integrating Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, is offering voluntary buyouts to some employees and imposing a five-day-a-week office requirement. Layoffs are also expected as the company targets more than $6 billion in annualized cost savings within three years. Variety reports: The new program was outlined by chairman and CEO David Ellison and co-CEO Ynon Kreiz in a memo to staffers Monday. "As we bring our teams together, we recognize that not everyone will see their future here, and we respect that. To give eligible employees the option to move on in a way that works for them, we are introducing a Voluntary Buyout (VBO) Program," the execs wrote. "Those who qualify will receive an individual communication with their personalized details and terms, and a window to decide whether to accept this one-time offer."

They added, "Please know we don't take any of this lightly. We are clear about what we're building: a company that tells the stories people around the world love, embraces new ways to connect with audiences, and leads the next era of media and entertainment. We have the talent, the creative firepower and the ambition to do it, and we will get there together."

[...] In the Oct. 26 memo, Ellison and Kreiz also said the new Skydance is moving to a mandatory five-days-per-week in-office policy across the company. "We believe in-person collaboration is vital to our culture and to the success of our business. Especially in a creative company like ours, the best ideas come from people in the same room, sharing perspectives, challenging one another and solving problems," the execs said. "We truly believe this is in the best interest of our company and our people. We've seen the benefits firsthand at Paramount, and we want every part of Skydance to share in them."

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APELDOORN (ANP) - Extreem weer heeft de afgelopen tien jaar gezorgd voor honderdduizenden gevallen van schade aan woningen die zijn verzekerd bij Centraal Beheer. In ongeveer zes op de tien gevallen heeft de verzekeraar de schade vergoed.

Uit een analyse van de cijfers bij Centraal Beheer komt naar voren dat tussen 2016 en 2025 in totaal 207.432 claims voor woningschade als gevolg van extreem weer zijn ingediend. Daarvan is ongeveer 60 procent volgens een woordvoerster uitbetaald, bij elkaar 180,3 miljoen euro.

Bij twee op de drie claims waarbij de schade niet werd vergoed, komt dit volgens de woordvoerster omdat de klant de claim niet heeft doorgezet. Mensen hebben het dan bijvoorbeeld zelf opgelost of het ging om een kleine schade die onder het eigen risico viel. Ongeveer 6 procent is afgewezen omdat de schade bijvoorbeeld is ontstaan door achterstallig onderhoud "en daardoor voorkomen had kunnen worden", aldus de woordvoerster.

Hevige regen

Extreem weer lijkt ook steeds vaker schade te veroorzaken. De afgelopen vijf jaar lag het aantal claims vanwege hevige regen per verzekerde woning zo'n 14 procent hoger dan in de jaren daarvoor.

Eind vorige week kampte Nederland nog met stormachtig weer. Centraal Beheer en een aantal andere verzekeraars lieten maandag weten hierdoor meer dan duizend schademeldingen te hebben ontvangen.

Structureel

Daarnaast meldt Centraal Beheer na onderzoek onder ruim duizend Nederlanders dat mensen zich vaker zorgen maken over de gevolgen van klimaatverandering voor hun woning. Bijna de helft van de ondervraagden gaf dit afgelopen augustus aan, vorig jaar maakte 35 procent zich hier nog zorgen over. De meesten willen hun huis klimaatbestendiger maken, maar sommigen zeiden daar niet genoeg geld voor te hebben of hiervoor afhankelijk te zijn van hun verhuurder of vereniging van eigenaren (VvE).

Veel Nederlandse woningen zijn nog onvoldoende voorbereid op extreem weer, vindt Ted Veldkamp, lector Klimaat en Water aan Hogeschool Rotterdam. Vooral bestaande woningen zijn volgens haar vaak niet ontworpen voor hevige regenval, langdurige droogte en hitte. Maar omdat niet iedereen de mogelijkheden heeft om het huis aan te passen, moet klimaatadaptatie volgens haar structureel worden meegenomen bij onderhoud, renovatie en nieuwbouw. "Dat is des te belangrijker omdat niet alle schade door extreem weer te voorkomen is en ook niet alle klimaatschade verzekerbaar of standaard gedekt is", zegt ze.

Er blijkt een forse tweedeling tussen academisch geschoolden en praktisch geschoolden in gevoelens van achterstelling, blijkt uit onderzoek van het SCP. Praktisch geschoolden met en zonder migratieachtergrond voelen zich vaak over dezelfde thema’s achtergesteld: wonen en politieke vertegenwoordiging.